The Sufficiency and Insufficiency of the Cross

Good Friday Message

Allen Snapp

March 29, 2024

Grace Community Church

The Sufficiency and Insufficiency of the Cross

A few minutes ago we sang about Christ all sufficient merit And I wanna take the next couple of minutes to highlight from God's word the sufficiency of the cross but then close by briefly pointing out the insufficiency of the cross. Don't get nervous, I'll explain what I mean and back it up with God's word when we get there.

1. The Sufficiency Of the Cross

700 years before Jesus was born Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would bear the iniquity of us all, that he would be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our sin. In the gospel of Mark we see Jesus bear our iniquities in three distinct ways.

1. Jesus bore our shame on the cross (vv16-20, 24-32)

¹⁶ And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. ¹⁷ And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. ¹⁸ And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. ²⁰ And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

²⁴ And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. ²⁵ And it was the third hour when they crucified him. ²⁶ And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” ²⁷ And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. ²⁹ And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰ save yourself, and come down from the cross!” ³¹ So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. ³² Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

The old hymn Hallelujah, what a savior, says, Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood. Ed Welch in his book Shame Interrupted says that in Western culture where we are very law-based, we tend to think more in terms of guilt and condemnation than we do in terms of shame, but the Bible speaks about shame almost ten times more often than it speaks about guilt. 

Mark highlights the shame that Jesus endured leading up to and on the cross. The soldiers not only beat and whipped him, they also mocked him. They shamed him by stripping him of his clothes and putting on a mock king's robe and placing a crown of thorns on his head and then pretended to kneel down in homage to him and then struck him and spat on him. And yes, all that was painful but it was also shaming.

Then they stripped him of his clothes and nailed him to the cross and that was excruciating, but let's not

miss the shame of hanging naked on the cross for all the world to see.

Mark says those who stood by cast shame on Jesus. Bystanders derided him. The religious leaders mocked him. Even the crucifiedon either side of him reviled him, though we know one of them had a change of heart at some point. Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood.

In genesis chapter 2 it says that Adam and Eve were naked and were not ashamed. Shame entered the world when sin entered the world and we all deal with some degree of shame. It could be the shame of our own guilt, it could be the shame of someone else’s sin against us, something John piper calls misplaced shame because we did nothing to be ashamed of someone did it to us. It can be the shame of being an outcast, shunned, downtrodden, being mocked, humiliated, rejected, or betrayed. Shame is a deep hidden part of the human dilemma. And Jesus bore all our shame.

2. Jesus bore our guilt on the cross (vv.33-34)

³³ And when the sixth hour^[f] had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. ³⁴ And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:33-34

After several hours of exposure to the shame and ridicule of the bystanders, a supernatural darkness fell over the whole land and covered Jesus, but not to spare him further shame. No, it’s at that time that Jesus bore God’s full wrath for our guilt. What happened to Jesus during that time, what agonies he endured, are cloaked in mystery – we will never fully be able to pierce the darkness or see what horrors Jesus faced in the hours between 12 noon and 3pm. But we know that the greatest agony was separation from God as his Father turned away from His Son and laid on him to guilt for all our sin.

2 Cor. 5:21 says God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. That doesn't mean Jesus was sinful, it means god laid on him all of our sin and all the guilt for our sin. Jesus bore our guilt fully on the cross so that we could made righteous (guiltless) in him.

3. Jesus bore our death on the cross (vv. 35-37)

³⁵ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” ³⁶ And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷ And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. Mark 15:35-37

Jesus didn’t die like crucified men die. Crucifixion has been called “death by exhaustion” – the life of a man ebbed out of him until he became so weak and feeble that he just faded away into death. That’s not how Jesus died: Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. He gave up his spirit. Death didn’t come to Jesus, Jesus ran to death. Death didn’t take Jesus’ life or overpower Jesus, Jesus gave his life of his own accord and by his own power.

Physical death came into the world when sin came into the world. The Bible says that death will be the last enemy to be vanquished. One day death will be dead! But the Bible says that the wages of sin is death and not just physical death which is separation of the soul from the body, but spiritual death which is eternally being separated from our creator. Jesus died so that we would never have to die. The Bible says that those who trust in Christ fall asleep only to rise again on the last day.

On the cross Jesus bore our shame, our guilt, and our death so that we could be unashamed, forgiven, and made alive through faith in Christ. It makes me think of that old hymn, so I'll cherish the old rugged cross I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it someday for a crown!

2. The insufficiency of the cross

⁴² And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. ⁴⁵ And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. ⁴⁶ And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. ⁴⁷ Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid. Mark 15:42-47

Now, let me be quick to say that I don’t mean that there is any essential lack or inadequacy in the work of Christ on the cross. Not at all. It is finished. But the gospels couldn’t end at the cross and still be good news. This can’t end with Mary and Mary seeing where Jesus was laid.

For the cross to be sufficient it needs the empty grave and that's what we're gonna celebrate on Easter morning! As the old preacher said, it may be Friday but Sundays coming! The cross plus the resurrection is sufficient for our complete salvation when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ our savior. Then we can sing Hallelujah, what a savior!

If you have never put your faith in trust and Jesus Christ I invite you to come to him tonight. He's not on the cross, he's not in the grave, he's alive! And he promises to save all who come to him and believe. Let's pray.